FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT V TWIN - PAGE 2

These are heady times for motorcycle enthusiasts. Not only has the weather turned perfect for riding, but the thriving industry is serving up new models. For 2000, manufacturers are offering more advanced technology, extra power, better brakes (even anti-lock brakes, like those in cars), longer warranties and emergency road service. Here are some highlights of the motorcycle market: APRILIA This maker of high-style, high-technology Italian motorcycles has been in the American market for only a year or so. It offers three models, the RSV Mille, a 1,000-cubic-centimeter V-twin ($13,799)

Retro is often a concept that works in the showroom but not on the road. Styling that oozes nostalgia and yanks at the heartstrings often proves impossibly impractical. Then there are those that work. Consider the Ducati GT1000. As a styling exercise it works deviously well, attractively adapting traditional shapes and design cues to a modern mechanical structure. Even better, Ducati's newest heritage-invoking machine also works dynamically. Leading-edge mechanical bits are smoothly integrated with styling from an era when motorcycles focused more on function and less on image.

The 2001 Harley-Davidson Softail Deuce is two motorcycles: From afar, it has the look and bearing of the hopped-up American V-twin--low down and suspensionless in the rear, fork kicked out upfront, a slim, low-slung seat. But throw a leg over this one, punch the starter button and it's millennium time. Gone is the jackhammer vibration. No lumpy idle either, at least with the optional fuel injection. Easy starts, a smooth ride, a relatively comfortable seat, feet-forward riding position, a decent set of brakes and the look of a custom.

Three years ago at its annual dealers convention, American Honda, the perennial motorcycles sales leader, was on the defensive. Harley-Davidson, which makes nothing but cruisers, had wrested away the U.S. street-cycle sales lead from Honda, which should have been untouchable with a lineup covering the street spectrum. Making matters worse, rival Yamaha was outselling it in dirt bikes, and Honda was losing ground in the all-terrain vehicle marketplace. Honda executives got to stand in front of about 2,400 dealers, assembled in New Orleans to order the next year's inventory, and explain what the company was going to do to right the ship.

In 1922, Motorcycle Magazine called the new Brough Superior "The Rolls-Royce of Motorcycles." But creator George Brough had an even better endorsement--from Lawrence of Arabia. That T.E. Lawrence died on an SS100 (for 100 m.p.h.) V-twin in 1935 cemented the pairing in the public mind. Both are highlighted by a display of Lawrence's bike, along with memorabilia, at the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu in Southern England. It can be accessed at www.beaulieu.co.uk/motormuseum.

When Ducati brought its Monster 600 to the U.S. last year, it looked brilliant on paper. Aimed at the budget/beginner segment, the M600 was light (383 pounds dry), low (30.3 inches) and sexy (keep reading). It had an exposed trellis frame true to Miguel Galuzzi's original 1993 Monster design, an attractive air-cooled Desmodromic V-twin engine and an elite Italian name. The smallest member of the Monster line, which is marketed as blurring the lines between a sportbike and a cruiser, is Ducati's best-selling bike worldwide, and conditions seemed ripe for the 600's success here.

When I think of American motorcycles, I have a pretty clear picture in my mind--a low-riding, chrome beast made to look good on Main Street. And when I think of sportbikes, I see imports that can take on a racetrack right out of their crates. Then there's the American sportbike, the only example of which you're likely to encounter is the Buell, a marque founded by former racer Erik Buell. Buell the company was acquired by Harley-Davidson Inc. in 1998 but remains a bit player.

By John O'Dell. Special to the Tribune. John O'Dell is a staff writer for the Los Angeles Times, a Tribune newspaper | March 11, 2002

Indian Motorcycle Corp. says it will complete its journey back into the marketplace this year with the introduction of the 2002 Chief, outfitted with the first Indian-designed engine in 45 years. The new 100-cubic-inch V-twin was engineered at Indian's headquarters in Gilroy, Calif., and is being built by a custom-engine manufacturing contractor in Livonia, Mich. The new Chief, due in dealerships this spring, will be the flagship of Indian's line, which includes the sport-styled Spirit and the cruiser-styled Scout.

As we've discussed, motorcycle theft is a growing problem. But what can you do about it? Industry experts will tell you to lock your bike every time you leave it. Even if you are just dropping into the 7-Eleven for a cold drink, lock at least the ignition and fork. Some bikes have ears to accept a padlock to lock the forks, and this is safer than the bike's pin-type lock, which can be broken by force. Use a good padlock. Those made of drop-forged steel are best. They can't be easily cut with bolt cutters and resist hacksaws and chisels.

By Transportation in brief is compiled from the notebooks of Jim Mateja and Rick Popely, and from Tribune news services | September 15, 2002

Harley-Davidson is introducing its 100th Anniversary models, the first of which is the Screamin' Eagle Deuce. A product of the motorcycle maker's Custom Vehicle Operation, the Deuce takes a Softail and adds a Twin Cam 9 V-Twin engine, which increases displacement to 1,550 cc from 1,450 cc, and custom parts including lowered front and rear suspension, six-spoke chrome wheels and Centennial gold and black paint. About 3,000 will be built and priced from $25,995.